Saturday, June 29, 2013

One more reason to go hard.


The conversation usually goes something like this:

"You went to medical school in Nashville?"

"Sure did."

"You were at Vanderbilt?"

"No. . . . actually, I went to Meharry."

"Me. . .harry? Hmmm."

"Yes. Meharry Medical College. It's a historically black medical school and dental school. One of the oldest and most prestigious."

"Oh, yeah. That's right. Meharry. Okay, cool."

"Yeah. Cool."



This beautiful and bright young woman is one of our newest interns at Emory. She is also a recent graduate of Meharry Medical College--my alma mater. More than likely, she was the one saying those words during orientation this past week just as I did many moons ago.

This picture was taken in my home on Friday afternoon. Yep. Right on the couch in my sunroom. As soon as we met, I gave her my phone number and we talked about the fact that we had Meharry in common. Which meant we were automatic family in more ways than the parts that were already obvious. 

And what's cool is that she believed me. 

She sent me a text on Friday morning asking if we could meet. And you know what? I invited her straight into my home. Sure did. And I did that because I wanted her to know early on that --as long as she was here and as long as I was here, too -- that the light here will always be on for her. And that she will always have a soft place to land.

Always.

I didn't always have that. In fact, during most of my residency I didn't have that at all. But she will. And not just from me, but from others, too. Because it makes a difference.

It does.

You know what? I felt recharged when I saw her standing in that crowd of interns. Like I wanted to shadow box in a corner and come out swinging even harder. It's funny. Knowing that she is here makes me want to do better, to set an even higher standard for myself, and to just. . .I don't know. . .go hard, man. Because my mama and my daddy taught me to always remember that what I do is always about more than just me. Meharry taught me that, too.

Yeah, man. I already have a lot of reasons to go hard. But today, she is just one more reason.


I see you, little sister. And I promise to always remember that you see me, too.

***
Happy Saturday.

6 comments:

  1. I can already tell she's family.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You will make all the difference in the world for her...just knowing she has a soft place to land.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Man... I love this. And it's so on time. I was going to the bathroom at work the other day & saw a young black woman coming out of the door. I put my bathroom going on hold (which you KNOW is serious. LOL!) to go speak to her, because I had never seen her before. She's a summer intern... just happens to have natural hair, which she had neatly braided up into a nice bun... unlike my "I've been here for 17 years 'fro"... Anyway, I just had to track her down & introduce myself to let her know that I was nearby. She's not even interning with my group, but I wanted her to know: "I'm here."

    Xoxo,
    Biz

    ReplyDelete
  4. From the deck of the Poop,

    Both of you girls (DR. KD and Scoop) , you both know that nothing makes the old PoopDeck prouder than to know that you are reaching back to give a hand.

    PoopDeck

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's NEVER been lost on me that if I had graduated from an HBCU for undergrad, I'd probably be a Doc by now. Because there's NOTHING in the world like having a "soft place to land".

    But alas God had other plans, and it ain't over!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes.

    Maria, fellow Meharrian.

    ReplyDelete

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